Cross examinations of maritime trade disruptions in Africa during COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

This study examined the influence of the disruption of COVID-19 on maritime shipping activities in Africa. Particular attention was paid to the variations in the performance of selected African countries in container ship calls, container throughput, and liner shipping connectivity between 2019 and 2020. Eighteen (18) African countries were selected from all the geographical regions of the continent based on data availability. Secondary data was drawn from records of maritime trade in the publications of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) (2019, 2020, and 2021) as well as World Bank Development Indicators for the selected countries. Explorative data analysis was used to organize and present the data. Results showed that the North African region alone recorded an improved percentage of container ship calls in 2020 than in 2019. Results by individual countries showed that Ghana recorded the highest positive increase in ship calls in 2020 from her record in 2019. In addition, Morocco, recorded the highest container throughput in 2020 than the record in 2019 while all the countries exhibited a winding record of liner connectivity between the last quarter of 2019 through the last quarter of 2020. The study concluded that the disruption of maritime activity by the COVID-19 pandemic had a mixed impact on African countries’ performance. However, Africa has the potential to be more resilient to unforeseen shocks and become competitive if it is more integrated into the global supply chain and deploys modern and efficient technology and innovation to the shipping business more than it ever did.